Five Lumberjacks, One Tangled Rope

adjusts visor Knot Contest, Week 4 of 8, put five players on the Yellows (Treebash '26) at Fort Tuthill DGC, with temperatures from 45.8°F to 58.5°F, winds peaking at 8.8 mph, and a 25% chance of precipitation. That's a sharp change from the Week 3 Wind Gauge round, when the breeze averaged a sleepy 2.8 mph and the ponderosas barely rustled. This week opens a new chapter, the mid-season reckoning, with the first voluntary knot contest letting players challenge for any tag within five numbers of their own. 🪢 No challenge results made it to my clipboard, so I won't pretend to know whose rope got tied around whom. What I can report is how the card played out on the course.

Chains Rang, Timber Fell, Egos Splintered

Joshua Moore won MPO at -7 with a 975-rated round, the best of the day, following his -8 (959) in Week 3. He led through hole 3 on the only birdie on that hole. Noah Smith pulled even through hole 4, then went over par on hole 5 and dropped out of the shared lead while Joshua retook it with another sole birdie. From there Joshua piled on. He eagled hole 8 (Par 4, 443ft) and drilled a 46-foot Circle 2 putt on that same hole. He eagled hole 11 (Par 4, 428ft), added sole birdies on 9 and 17, and kept a clean front nine. Wire-to-wire, give or take one tie. 🪓 Jonathan Bia finished second at -5 (955) with a clean back nine. Jamiah Bia took third at -3 (935), climbing into 3rd through hole 5 and landing 36 points above his 899 rating. Noah fell from -4 (915, 2nd in Week 3) to +10 (805, 4th), 124 points below his 929 rating. His round still had a sole birdie on 12, a hot streak across holes 11-13, a 4-over hole 17, and an eagle on 18 (Par 5, 662ft) to finish.

One-Man Crew, Full Workload

Division of one, but the work still had to get done. Nikolai Kitaguchi was the only player in MA4 and finished first at +16 with a 745-rated round, which was also MA4's round of the day. Hole 3, the Super Ace hole, cost him 4 over par. He answered with a birdie on hole 4 and led wire-to-wire. A cold stretch ran through holes 7-10, and he closed with five bogeys or worse from hole 14 to 18. 🌲 Mountain golf will do that to anyone, and there's plenty of room on that card for company next week. If Nikolai enters his throws on PDGA Live, the recap can tell the story of that round hole by hole.

Eagles Nest in Unlikely Pines

Three eagles hit the pines this week: Joshua on holes 8 and 11, and Noah's closer on the 662-foot hole 18. The sole birdies tell their own story. Joshua had the only birdie on 3 (Par 3, 332ft), 9 (Par 3, 333ft), 5 (Par 3, 355ft), and 17 (Par 3, 301ft), and Noah had the only one on 12 (Par 3, 368ft). Holes 5 and 17 averaged +0.8 across the field and still gave up birdies to Joshua. 🦅 The rating swings were just as lopsided. Jamiah was 36 points above his 899, while Noah's 805 sat 124 below his 929, a gap that even an eagle on 18 couldn't close. Putting and scramble stories need throw-by-throw data, so if players track their rounds on PDGA Live, next week's recap can dig into the details.

Two Bucks Closer to Glory

Hole 3 was the Super Ace hole this week, and the results show no ace on it. Joshua carded the lone birdie there and Nikolai took 4 over. 🎯 I asked for the pot's running balance, and the request came back as a form, as usual. Check the league page for the current total, because the ace stays out there until somebody takes it.

Fuel the Team, Feed the Fire 🔥

This event raised $12.50 for Fuel the NAU Disc Golf Team through a registration contribution of $12.50 per player ($12.50 total), credited to the league. The running total stands at $45.00, 4% of the $1,000.00 goal, with $955.00 still to go. Every round at the Fort adds to that total, and you can see the project and help fuel the team. 🌲

Full Reshuffle, Zero Job Security 🪓

Joshua holds the #1 Pith Witness tag in The Ringwright Union after climbing from #2, and since Defended Tag reads False, this is a climb, not a defense. The pool runs AllIn, so every tag is redistributed from the standings each event. The tag history lists a 970 and no score for him, but the division data is what counts: -7 and a 975 round. Noah dropped from 2nd in MPO last week to 4th. Derick McCabe played in Week 3 but wasn't on this week's card, and under AllIn, absence means demotion. I don't have his tag number, so I won't guess. The Pith Witness carries the oral history of Fort Tuthill: forgotten basket locations, storm-damaged holes, and stories from a grandfather who played the Fort in 1987. The pale core of the tag is said to carry faint dates, names, and scores, legible only to patient observers. The lore is AI-generated, which I can say because I'm the one real thing in this booth. 📜

Petroglyph or Prank: Place Bets

Joshua's eagle on hole 11 (Par 4, 428ft) lands him right where next week's mystery starts. The storyline has that hole's rocky outcrop revealing a petroglyph, ancient marker or inside joke, with factions forming around the answer. The Pith Witness tag's own lore ties back to a petroglyph, so the new holder may find himself an unofficial expert. Whether his tag's oral history settles the debate remains to be seen.

Green Return

Week 5 of 8 is Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at the same course, Fort Tuthill DGC, with no venue change. The storyline says hole 6's basket will vanish behind resurgent oak scrub, and visitors from lower elevations will misjudge distances in the new green density. Locals should have the edge. 🌿

Register for Green Return before the first tee.

Grown adults with bags full of plastic are about to form factions over a scratch on a rock, and I'm the one who has to narrate it.